Australian Data Sources
Overview
There is a large library of resources available to contributors that assist with accurate mapping. All data contributed to OpenStreetMap must be compatible with its license, and adherance to the contributor terms is non-negotiable.
In addition to the OSM-wide resources and guides, this page is a centralised directory of the aerial imagery and license-compatible data sources specific to Australia. This page is regularly mantained by different mappers across the Australian Mapping Community; if you'd like to add a new source, or contribute your own data, please reach out!
Types of Sources
Aerial Imagery
Aerial Imagery is a heavily used resource for mapping. The editor-layer-index is the primary index of all available imagery sources, you can preview coverage at https://osmlab.github.io/editor-layer-index/. The tables below detail which imagery is the most appropriate for a given region.
Out of Copyright Maps
Maps produced by the government expire 50 years after the work was created, regardless of publication date. Copyright on other maps has expired if the author died before Jan 1 1955, or if the author is anonymous, if the work was published before 1 Jan 1955. However, if the map has been scanned, photographed or re-published then copyright can be re-asserted by the person taking that action over their published copy. Where the map is made available by a library or a website they may impose terms and conditions on use of their resources.
Recording the source
The Department of Lands in NSW is recorded as:
- source:name=DOL 1917
- source_ref:name=http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/online/maps.cfm
User:Aharvey has been using
- source:name=historical
- source_ref:name=URL of map image
to identify which specific map was used.
List of Sources
Australia-wide
Australia-wide data sources | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dataset Name | Theme | License | Editors | Currency | Notes | |
GNAF | Addresses | CC BY 4.0 with Mail Restriction => Incompatible with ODbL | Updated quarterly | |||
Geoscape Admin Boundaries (previously PSMA Admin Boundaries) | Admin boundaries | CC BY 4.0 with waiver (previous waiver) | Updated quarterly | Import/Catalogue/PSMA Admin Boundaries | ||
ASGS LGA | Admin boundaries | CC BY 2.5 - move to 4.0 in progress | Updated annually | Approximation of actual boundaries only, should use PSMA or state data instead | ||
ASGS Postal Areas | Admin boundaries | CC BY 2.5 - move to 4.0 in progress | Updated annually | Approximation of actual boundaries only | ||
ASGS Suburbs | Admin boundaries | CC BY 2.5 - move to 4.0 in progress | Updated annually | Approximation of actual boundaries only, should use PSMA or state data instead | ||
ASGS Mesh Blocks | Landuse | CC BY 2.5 - move to 4.0 in progress | every 5 years | |||
AGRI | Imagery 2.5m | CC BY 4.0 - Agreed to terms of waiver via email, but unable to sign. This confirmation via email should be sufficient. | Yes | 2006-2010 | ||
Geoscience Australia Online Maps | Basemap | CC BY 4.0 - Agreed to terms of waiver via email, but unable to sign. This confirmation via email should be sufficient. | ||||
EMSINA Emergency Facilities | POI | CC BY 4.0 - Agreed to terms of waiver via email, but unable to sign. This confirmation via email should be sufficient. | ||||
Australian National University MapsOnline maps | Various | CC BY 4.0 - Agreed to terms of waiver via email. | ||||
Surface Hydrology Lines | Waterways | CC BY 4.0 - Agreed to terms of waiver via email, but unable to sign. This confirmation via email should be sufficient. | ||||
CAPAD | Protected areas | CC BY 4.0 with waiver | bi-annually | |||
Australian Marine Parks | Protected areas | CC BY 4.0 with waiver | ||||
Dedicated Indigenous Protected Areas 2020 | Indigenous Protected Areas | CC BY 3.0 with waiver | updated as needed | Import/Catalogue/Australian Dedicated Indigenous Protected Areas 2020 | ||
Location of Centrelink Offices | POI | CC BY 3.0 Australia - Waiver sent 3rd October 2019 | monthly | Alternative link | ||
Planet Labs Australian Bushfire Imagery | Imagery | CC BY-SA / CC BY-NC - with waiver (limited to specified areas only) | ||||
Australian Antarctic Data Centre | Map catalog | CC BY 4.0 with waiver | Some collections licensed under CC BY 3.0 are progressively being updated to CC BY 4.0. | |||
Bing | Imagery | High-Resolution in large urban areas, and limited outback areas. | Available in iD by default | |||
Australian Communications and Media Authority | POI | CC BY 4.0 - Waiver sent 20th November 2020 | ||||
BeachSafe | Beaches & Lifeguards | "Copyright SLSA, not to be used without prior permission" but no mention of CC-BY - Request for permission to use sent 24/10/2021 | ||||
Microsoft AustraliaBuilding Footprints. | Buildings | Microsoft has generously open-sourced their AI generated building footprint data for all of Australia. | ||||
Mapbox | Imagery | Description needed | Available in iD by default | |||
Maxar Premium Imagery | Imagery | Description needed | Available in iD by default | |||
AGRI | Imagery | High-Resolution in large urban areas, and limited outback areas. | Available in iD by default | |||
Landsat | Imagery | low resolution imagery covering the entire continent. | Available in iD by default |
Australian Capital Territory
Australian Capital Territory Data Sources | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dataset Name | Theme | License | Editors | Currency | Notes |
ACTION GTFS | Transit | CC BY 4.0 - dataACT waiver sent, in touch 9th Jan 2019 | |||
ACT School Locations | POI | CC BY 4.0 - dataACT waiver sent, in touch 9th Jan 2019 | |||
ACT School Locations | POI | CC BY 4.0 - dataACT waiver sent, in touch 9th Jan 2019 | |||
ACTmapi | Transport | CC BY 4.0 with waiver | |||
TAMS | Transport | CC BY 4.0 - dataACT waiver sent, in touch 9th Jan 2019 | |||
TAMS | POI | CC BY 4.0 - dataACT waiver sent, in touch 9th Jan 2019 | |||
ACTmapi | POI | CC BY 4.0 with waiver | |||
ACTmapi | Buildings / Addresses / Cadastre | CC BY 4.0 with waiver | import scripts | ||
ACTmapi | Admin boundaries | CC BY 4.0 with waiver | |||
ACTmapi Territory Plan Land Use Zones | Landuse | CC BY 4.0 with waiver | |||
ACTmapi 2017 Imagery | Imagery | CC BY 4.0 with waiver | Yes | 2017 | |
ACTmapi 2018 Imagery | Imagery | CC BY 4.0 with waiver | Yes | 2018 | |
Dataset Name | Theme | License | Editors | Currency | Notes |
New South Wales
New South Wales | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dataset Name | Theme | License | Editors | Currency | Notes |
DCS Spatial Services NSW Imagery | Imagery | CC BY 4.0 - with waiver | Yes | ||
DCS Spatial Services NSW Base Map | Basemap | CC BY 4.0 - with waiver | Yes | ||
DCS Spatial Services NSW Point of Interest | POI | CC BY 4.0 - with waiver | esri-dump the webservice | ||
DCS Spatial Services NSW Floods CIR 2021 | Imagery | CC BY 4.0 (as confirmed by license confirmed by email reply), and as a spatial web service further covered by the waiver. | March 2021 | ||
DCS Spatial Services NSW Floods March 2022 | Imagery | CC BY 4.0 (as confirmed by license confirmed by email reply), and as a spatial web service further covered by the waiver. | March 2022 | ||
DCS Spatial Services Spot 6-7 | Imagery | Online viewing only, not available for OSM tracing, confirmed with DCS 6th July 2021. | |||
DCS Foundational Spatial Data | Transport, Water, POI, Admin Boundaries | CC BY 4.0 - with waiver | |||
NSW DPIE Land Zoning | Basemap / Land Zoning | CC BY 4.0 - with waiver | Custom Basemap | Weekly |
Contributors Page Entry - Contains url for custom basemap. |
TfNSW GTFS | Transit | CC BY 4.0 with waiver | weekly | ||
TfNSW Cycleways | Transport | CC BY 4.0 with waiver | |||
TfNSW Speed Zones | Transport | CC BY 4.0 with waiver | |||
TfNSW Boat Ramps | POI | CC BY 4.0 with waiver | |||
Geographical Names Register | Place names | CC BY 4.0 with waiver | No | Good | as geojson/osm |
NPWS Estate | Admin boundaries | CC BY 4.0 with waiver | 3 monthly | ||
NPWS | POI | CC BY 4.0 with waiver | |||
NSW Public Schools | POI | CC BY 4.0 with waiver | 2016 or later | to OSM | |
NSW Non-Government Schools | POI | CC BY 4.0 (version confirmed via email), but owned by https://www.acara.edu.au/contact-us/acara-data-access who have an incompatible license. | |||
RFS Neighbourhood Safer Places | POI | CC BY 4.0 | |||
Maxar Bushfire Imagery | Imagery | CC BY-NC 4.0 with explicit permission | Yes | 2018-2020 | https://gist.github.com/andrewharvey/57da8ad7f9f425d4c811e6cd33b2fdcb |
Waverley Council Data | POI | CC BY 4.0 - waiver request sent 2020-02-19 | |||
NSW Marine Protected Areas | Admin boundaries | CC BY 4.0 waiver sent 31/10/2020 | |||
City of Sydney Data Hub | POI | CC BY 4.0 - waiver sent 01/12/2020, "considering your request" on 03/12/2020 | Varies |
Out of copyright maps
Historical maps available online at the National Library and State Library of NSW [1] can be useful for street names
- State Library Database [2]
NSW historic parish maps are at https://www.nswlrs.com.au/Parish-and-Historical-Maps
User:Aharvey made available an index of all (to the best of his knowledge) maps from that site Municipality Parish Pastor
Most of the parish maps are dated, however they also have a lot of annotations added after the original date of map creation, so you probably shouldn't use these annotations unless the Parish map was "cancelled" at least 50 years ago.
Northern Territory
Northern Territory | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dataset Name | Theme | License | Editors | Currency | Notes | |
NTLIS | Basemap | Not under open license, understanding is that they will move to open data but no timeframe. Last contacted Oct 2017. Update Mar 2022 Confirmed still not under open data license | ||||
NTLIS | Imagery | Update Mar 2022 Confirmed still not under open data license | ||||
NT Schools | POI | CC BY 4.0 | ||||
City of Darwin Open Data services | POI | CC BY (unspecified version) - discussion pending Mar 2022 | Parks, playgrounds, drainage, buildings, street lighting, roads, service roads, pathways, trees etc | |||
City of Darwin | Transport | CC BY 4.0 - waiver sent 22/3/2019 | ||||
NT Parks and Reserves | Protected Areas | CC BY 4.0 | ||||
NT Roads | Transport | CC BY 4.0 | ||||
NT Parks and Reserves | Admin Boundaries | CC BY (unspecified version) | ||||
NT Government Controlled Roads | Transport | CC BY (unspecified version) | ||||
NT GTFS Darwin Alice Springs | Transport | CC BY (unspecified version) |
Queensland
Queensland | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dataset Name | Theme | License | Editors | Currency | Notes |
QSpatial Property Address or DCDB (DNRM) | Addresses | CC BY 4.0 - waiver equivalent + interpretation | oa PR | ||
QSpatial Basemap Topographic Web Service | Basemap | CC BY 4.0 - waiver equivalent + interpretation | |||
QSpatial Map Lite Web Service | Basemap | CC BY 4.0 - waiver equivalent + interpretation | |||
Hospital & Health Service facilities | Health | CC BY ND 3.0 [[:File:|with waiver]] | |||
Queensland Globe Imagery | Imagery | Appears to not be under an open license | |||
QLD Schools | POI | CC BY 4.0 | |||
Department of Environment and Science | Protected Areas | CC BY 3.0 AU with waiver | |||
Translink GTFS (TMR) | Transit | CC BY 4.0 - explicit permission - waiver sent 16th Mar (TMR), followed up 13th Mar, last update 24th Apr | |||
QSpatial, Department of Transport and Main Roads, State controlled roads surveyed centreline - Queensland | Transport | CC BY 4.0 with waiver | QSpatial State Controlled Roads dataset | ||
TMR | Transport | CC BY 4.0 but needs either a department wide waiver, or dataset specific waiver | |||
QSpatial Road and Street Web Map Service | Transport | CC BY 4.0 - waiver equivalent + interpretation | |||
QSpatial Baseline Roads and Tracks | Transport | CC BY 4.0 - waiver equivalent + interpretation | |||
Guide to Queensland Roads | Transport | Feb 2021 - Currently under mix of licenses so can't release | To be updated this year & released under new licence. Will consider waiver then. | ||
QLD Open Data Portal | CC BY 3.0 and CC BY 4.0 - message sent 10th Jan 2022 via website contact form. Will Advise | ||||
Individual LGA Data | |||||
Brisbane City Council | POI / Transit / Addresses | CC BY 4.0 with waiver | |||
Gold Coast | CC BY 3.0 AU - waiver sent 6th Aug 2018 - explicit permission received but still discussing waiver Sept 2019 | ||||
Ipswich Traffic Signals | Transport | CC BY 3.0 AU | |||
Logan City | Addresses, Footpaths | CC BY 3.0 Unported - waiver sent 20th Nov 2019 to generic council mailbox. | |||
Moreton Bay Regional Council | Addresses / Infrastructure / Parks etc | CC BY 4.0 - waiver sent 28th Dec 2021 to general council mailbox. Will Advise | |||
Noosa | POI / Transport | CC BY 4.0 - with waiver | |||
Noosa Aerial Imagery | Imagery | Licensed through DNRME, so Noosa is unable to provide any permission. | |||
Sunshine Coast Council | POI / Transport / Addresses | CC0, CC BY 3.0 - waiver sent Nov 2019 to contact form | |||
Toowoomba Region Council | Addresses / Infrastructure / Parks etc | Copyright TRC but no mention of CC BY - e-mail sent 2 Dec 2021 for permission to use. Will advise | |||
City of Townsville
|
Addresses
Transport Admin Boundaries |
CC BY 4.0 with waiver (ambiguous as to which datasets it covers due to the URL, those listed on the left are okay, others we should confirm before using) |
South Australia
Tasmania
Tasmania | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dataset Name | Theme | License | Editors | Currency | Notes |
listdata Imagery | Imagery | CC BY 3.0 - does not agree to waiver in May 2017 and again in Dec 2018 due issues with chained attribution | |||
Tasmania Placenames | Place names | Closed license | |||
Launceston City Council Orthophoto | Imagery | nonfree with waiver | PR | 2013 | |
Launceston City Council Open Data | Addresses / Transport / POI | CC BY 3.0 with waiver | No | ||
Hobart City Council | Buildings | CY BY 3.0 AU | Buildings imported pre waiver in https://www.openstreetmap.org/changeset/28643542 | ||
Glenorchy City Council | Buildings | CC BY 3.0 AU |
Victoria
Western Australia
Western Australia | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dataset Name | Theme | License | Editors | Currency | Notes |
Transperth | Transit | License not compatiable with ODbL | talk-au discussion | ||
Main Roads WA | Transport | CC BY 4.0 with waiver | PR | to OSM | |
WA Schools | POI | CC BY 4.0 |
Australian External Territories
Other Territories | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dataset Name | Theme | License | Editors | Currency | Notes |
Intentionally Blank - No sources yet |
Legend
License colours: Waiver rejected | Waiver in progress | Waiver completed (based on OSMF waiver, irrespective of explicit permissions)
Import
See Import/Guidelines and Automated Edits code of conduct for more information. Imports/automated edits which do not follow these guidelines might be reverted!
Every import of data in Australia is recorded on the Australian Import Catalogue.
Links
- https://osmlab.github.io/editor-layer-index/
- https://github.com/openaddresses/openaddresses/tree/master/sources/au
- https://github.com/andrewharvey/opendata4osm
See also
- Permissions
- contains a list of all obtained permissions grouped by the languages
- New Zealand Data Catalogue